Mobile devices such as personal navigation devices (PND) and smart phones typically have some form of navigation and map orientation application. These mobile devices often utilize a magnetic compass that have to work even when the device is not held level, which requires a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer or a gyroscope to be integrated with the magnetic sensors. The typical mobile device includes a magnetic compass sensor as well as a separate MEMS accelerometer or a gyroscope sensor. However, including these sensors as two separate sensor devices in a mobile device takes a large printed circuit board (PCB) footprint. Because the mobile navigation devices are very sensitive to cost and size, any solution that reduces cost or the printed circuit board (PCB) footprint of the compass hardware is desired.